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Caches along a route - am I making this overly complicated?

I keep all of Maine's caches loaded on my Garmin and update it weekly, but the night before going caching I like to plan my route, generate a Caches Along a Route PQ and decide which caches I am going to visit. Ben watched me map our route in Google Earth on Friday and thinks I may be making it overly complicated so I figured I would run it by all of you

The routes are usually a loop that starts and ends in Hermon. Google Earth seems to only allow you to plan routes with a start/end point... they don't let you set multiple destinations like Google Maps does. So, I go in to Google Earth and save multiple .kml files for each "leg" for the route.

I then go through and use a text editor to open each .kml file and copy/paste the coordinates in to a single .kml file. I upload that file to gc.com and generate a Caches Along Route PQ.

Is there a way to do this without manually editing the .kml files? To make the route above I had to make separate .kml files for Bangor to Greenville, Greenville to Rockwood, Rockwood to Jackman, Jackman to Skowhegan and Skowhegan to Bangor.

I'm not sure which Garmin you're using. I use the Nuvi and a Rino 530hcx. I use mapsource and open all the geocaches as waypoints. From there I'll manually click out a route from cache to cache or parking waypoints. I can lay out a tens of caches in just minutes. From there you can select to send the route and/or waypoints. That's one of the easiest ways I've done it. I've also done it through Topo8 using layers of difficulty w/varying colors.

I'm not sure which Garmin you're using. I use the Nuvi and a Rino 530hcx. I use mapsource and open all the geocaches as waypoints. From there I'll manually click out a route from cache to cache or parking waypoints. I can lay out a tens of caches in just minutes. From there you can select to send the route and/or waypoints. That's one of the easiest ways I've done it. I've also done it through Topo8 using layers of difficulty w/varying colors.

I also have a Garmin Nuvi. Should Mapsource have come with it? when I Google all I can find is a download to upgrade to the newest version... I can't find a download for a new install. Am I missing something obvious?

you can do this all thru gc.com and skip google earth altogether...click on the create a route link on the right side of your profile page and it will guide you thru it...

I've tried doing it from there and it looks like the routes can't have multiple destinations, so I can't map out a loop. I suppose I can save each leg as a route and run PQs for each one... is that what you were suggesting?

I've tried doing it from there and it looks like the routes can't have multiple destinations, so I can't map out a loop. I suppose I can save each leg as a route and run PQs for each one... is that what you were suggesting?

Actually, never mind. It does let you choose multiple points. Ugh, I feel like an idiot. This is soooo much easier than Google Earth!

Actually, never mind. It does let you choose multiple points. Ugh, I feel like an idiot. This is soooo much easier than Google Earth!

Actually, you should check and make sure someone hasn't already created the route you want and uploaded it to GC.com. Before we left on this trip, I checked and was surprised to find a route from Sherbrooke, Quebec to Gastineau, Quebec, exactly the route we planned on taking.

I also have a Garmin Nuvi. Should Mapsource have come with it? when I Google all I can find is a download to upgrade to the newest version... I can't find a download for a new install. Am I missing something obvious?

Mapsource only comes w/some of the Garmin products I was hoping that wasn't the only Garmin you had. Even though my Nuvi 765T doesn't have the geocaching capability.......using mapsource I'm able to have the treasure chests visible along my route...and click on them to get the hint.